How do a million dancing, singing, happy people hide within a city block?

That’s what Gabby and I kept asking ourselves as we searched through the streets of Rio for the notorious Bloco Cordao da Bola Preta in the Central district. Where is the Bloco? We tried to follow the hordes of cariocas (the name given to people from Rio) and tourists alike in fancy dress, but they kept peeling off in different directions. Bloco? We asked one policeman. That way. Bloco? We asked a street vendor. He pointed the other way.

Then we turned a corner and heard it before we saw it: the rhythm of drums, the cheers from the crowd. Our eyes quickly caught up with our ears as we spotted a huge bus surrounded by a mass of humanity in brightly coloured costumes, feathers and headdresses, glitter and confetti everywhere. We squeezed our way through until we were right next to the samba school, dancing and drumming in time to the enthusiastic conducting of a woman on top of the bus. We samba-ed in our own gringo way in a slow march through the streets… laughing and cheering alongside a crowd who knew all the words to every song. Now this was the Carnaval we’d been looking for.

We found a Bloco! Multibloco in Lapa

Only it wasn’t. We hadn’t found Cordau da Bola Preta at all but stumbled into Multibloco in the Lapa district. Oh well, who cares! We had a blast and this is Rio baby. There’s plenty of partying to come.

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From the moment we landed in Rio, one thing was clear: we were not in Disney World anymore. Our hotel, the Riazor, leaves a little to be desired… especially when you’re coming out of some pretty nice 5-star accommodation! But the rooms are clean and safe, the beds comfy, and the air-con and wifi both work – so what more can you ask for?

Beautiful Copacabana beach

Our first misty view of Cristo from the streets of Copacabana

Thank god for these water tracks… they made walking on the beach bearable!

I wanted to get right into the spirit, so our first stop was Copacabana beach. Luckily the bonus of our hotel is that it is right by a metro station, so getting around the city is simple and safe. When we arrived, we had a traditional Brazilian lunch, which involved loading up as much food as possible onto a plate and paying by the weight – delicious. It was then only a short walk down to the beach. And what a beach. The sun was blazing and, despite it being a Thursday afternoon, the beach was packed. Thank god for the people who water the sand so it can be walked on – otherwise I might have burned the soles of my feet to a crisp!

After baptising our trip with a mandatory toe in the South Atlantic, we kicked back at a beach bar with a couple of Caipirihinas and a delicious agua de coco – although, admittedly, I probably drank too much too quickly. Combined with the exhaustion of the flight and the heat of the day, I was knackered and feeling a bit ill by the time we were ready to go out for dinner. Me, too unwell to eat? Almost unheard of. But it turned out a good night’s sleep was what I needed.

The next morning we were up bright and early for our tour of Rio. It was a great way to get oriented around the city and check off some of the major sights! And Rio did not disappoint at all. Our first stop was the Cristo Redentor (do what we did: get there early to avoid long lines at the bottom and monstrous crowds at the top!) and it was truly breathtaking.

Cristo Redentor

The crowds by Cristo, overlooking Sugar Loaf mountain

The tour also took us past a favela, into the district of Santa Teresa and to the main Metropolitan Cathedral, which was unlike any cathedral I’ve ever been in! It can hold 20,000 people at capacity, which is kind of mind-blowing.

One of the most photographed favelas in Rio

Inside the Catedral Metropolitana de Sao Sebastiao

Finally, we went up Sugar Loaf mountain in the cable cars to get absolutely stunning 360 views of Rio. What a town.

On Sugarloaf mountain, with a view of Copacabana

Inside the cable car

Thank goodness we had a good experience of Carnaval on Saturday morning, because Friday night can only be summed up as mildly disastrous. Owing to some misinformation from our Rio tour guide, we ended up arriving late to not one, but two blocos – arriving after the party only to find the masses of post-party drunk people still wandering the streets. Yes, there was still a bit of music but nothing like the fun, happy atmosphere we imagined.

As much as many blogs and articles I’ve read suggest simply ‘wandering the streets’ until you find a party, a little bit of pre-planning would have helped us have a much better night!

So far, Rio has been pretty amazing – even though I’m glad that this blog and my books give me an excuse to come home in the middle of the day to escape the heat and rest for the evening… Sambadrome is tomorrow, and I’m going to need all the energy my body can muster if I’m to survive the night!

Typical tourist pose at Cristo – kind of has to be done!

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It’s kind of amazing how travelling changes you. Opens you up to adventure, new experiences, new people. Only a few hours after we said goodbye to our families, switching from ‘vacation’ mode to ‘backpacker’, we met a Brazilian couple who gave us tips on everything from how to ward off the Zika virus to the best places to eat in Rio. We exchanged email addresses and they told us to get in touch if we needed anything once we arrived.

Travel magic at its best.

First official selfie of the trip – at Fort Lauderdale airport en route to Rio via Bogota

It’s officially been eight years since my last gap year – and in many ways, not much has changed. I’m older and (hopefully) wiser, but I’m still using the same backpack, sleeping bag and packing cubes as last time. The backpack in particular has seen many corners of the globe; she also accompanied my sister Sophie on her gap year adventure! I can definitely vouch for the longevity and durability of a Lowepro bag. I’m taking more or less the same amount of clothes, and I still remember that the most useful thing I brought with me was my sarong. But what has changed is the sheer amount of technology that is accompanying me this time around. Whereas in 2007 I travelled with a flip phone, iPod and a point-and-shoot camera, this time I feel like I’m carrying around my own Best Buy superstore. I guess that’s the burden that comes with being a ‘digital nomad’. I do have The Potion Diaries book 3 to write on the road, after all!

Two backpackers ready for the road

Looking at this list all laid out, I’ve probably overpacked – and from everything I’ve heard, there will be plenty to buy in South America! The tricky thing has been to prepare for all the different temperatures that we’ll be encountering on our trip – from the sweltering heat of Brazil to the potentially very cold nights of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. Also, now that I’m closer to 30 than 21 (I turn 30 on this trip, ahh!) and this is supposed to be a grown-up gap year, I don’t want to feel like a ‘backpacker’ all the time. My solution is to bring jeans with me so I can go sit in a café and not feel too grungy. And if I’m ever wondering why my bag is so heavy, someone please remind me that I’ve packed five actual tree-books, in additional to my Kindle. Don’t judge me, I need them all! *clings to books*

But probably the most important items we’ve packed are our travel mascots… Kylo Ren and his minion! I initially bought a Disney Star Wars vinylmation hoping to get BB8 (it’s a lucky dip out of 8 different characters) but decided I wouldn’t mind getting Ren, Poe, Finn… but I ended up with Kylo. While initially I was a tad disappointed, it all works out now that Lofty’s mascot is a minion 😉 Look out for KR and minion showing up all over South America.

KR and minion – our intrepid travel companions

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Since we’re going to be spending at least four months of the world in Spanish-speaking countries, I thought I’d better get a wriggle on trying to learn some of the language! Lofty has been much better at this than me, and has been learning for almost 18 months. I, however, have taken the more ‘intensive’ approach and trying out lots of different methods! I’ve compiled a list of just a few of the ways we’ve been trying to learn Spanish (and some bonus ones that have been recommended to us, that we will try in the near future):

1. Best if you have three months or more: Find a Groupon/Amazon Local deal!

Lofty found a brilliant deal on AmazonLocal that offered a 12-week Spanish course for only £79 with the Elegant International College in London. Definitely worth every penny! With a course over 12 weeks, he really got to know the teacher and the other students, so he was able to meet up with them outside the classroom to help improve his Spanish even more. After 18-months, Lofty is a confident Spanish speaker and well prepared for a few months in South America!

This is the course that I took over the last two weeks of November. Instituto Cervantes is run by the Spanish government as a way of promoting the Spanish language around the world – and all the teachers are native Spanish speakers. The course takes place every day for three hours a day (from 10:30-13:30) and costs £312. The class sizes tend to be pretty small, with a minimum of 4 up to a maximum of about 12 people per class.

Although I initially started with the very beginner course (Inicial 1), because I had been using Duolingo (see below) I already had enough vocabulary to jump to the Inicial 2 level. I’m so glad that I did. Over the two weeks, I went from a completely shy Spanish speaker to being able to have actual conversations and write full on emails and postcards. The course is quite intense – they try to speak as little English as possible during the lesson, even to complete beginners – but I thoroughly recommend it if you get the chance before you go. They also give you a ‘qualification’ at the end of the course which allows you to pick up a Spanish language course anywhere around the world.

I downloaded a bunch of Spanish apps to help me learn, but the most useful one has been Duolingo (and bonus: it’s free!). It’s easy to use, fun, and has really helped improve my vocabulary. The biggest drawback to Duolingo is the fact that you don’t say much out loud – and you don’t get a chance to interact with anyone, so translating Duolingo knowledge into an actual conversation is tricky. That’s why I would thoroughly recommend taking a course as a way to cement that knowledge!

A bit on the expensive side, but well proven to be one of the best pieces of software for learning Spanish on your own! I have yet to use it but have heard only great things. I have the Latin American Spanish version, level 1 and I’ll be adding it to my laptop for learning on the road.

4. Best if you can start your trip a bit early: Homestays

Lofty and I are unfortunately starting in Portuguese-speaking Brazil, so we’re not able to do a homestay. But if my experiences learning French are any indication, becoming fully immersed in the language with a homestay is the only way to become truly fluent. Oasis Overland offers week-long homestays as ‘added extras’ on most of their South America itineraries.

This website was recommended to me by my Instituto Cervantes teacher and it’s so useful! Some of the Spanish learning videos I found on YouTube were very basic and not very helpful. But these videos are clear, useful and tie in to the different levels used by Instituto Cervantes. If you’re a beginner, go to the section marked ‘Alumno’ and then level ‘Nivel A1’

I would also like to download some great (but easy) Spanish-language podcasts for the road – does anyone have any recommendations? We’ve been listening to Coffee Break Spanish and Show Time Spanish but always looking for others!